ADVENT Week 3: JOY

Joy is not simply being happy. Joy is a complete happiness and contentment, regardless of your situation. Tune in to this episode to find out how the wise men were utterly overjoyed simply by seeing the King of The Jews in Bethlehem and how you can get this joy in Christ too.

Here are the bible passages from today’s episode:

Bible Passage: Romans 15:13

“I pray that God, who gives hope, will bless you with joy and peace because of your faith.” 

Bible Passage: Philippians 4:4

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” Rejoice simply means be joyful.

Story Time! Bible Passage: Matthew 2:1-12

“When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and said, “Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard about this, he was worried, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. Herod brought together the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”

They told him, “He will be born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet wrote,

‘Bethlehem in the land
    of Judea,
you are very important
    among the towns of Judea.
From your town
    will come a leader,
who will be like a shepherd
    for my people Israel.’ ”

Herod secretly called in the wise men and asked them when they had first seen the star. He told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, let me know. I also want to go and worship him.”

The wise men listened to what the king said and then left. And the star they had seen in the east went on ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and gave them to him. Later they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went back home by another road.”

We have hope in Jesus - that he will return and make everything right again and remove sin once and for all.

We have peace with God, having our sins dealt with by Jesus. We can be friends again!

And we have joy through Jesus, because he is everything we need.

Question Time! 

• What brings you joy?

• Do you find it easy or hard to get excited and feel joy about Jesus? Why/why not?